Chapter 2140

"The battle has been fought. Now we are allowed to go to the Hirado Strait... to stand guard!" Xu Yuzhuo received a new order from Hirado Island on Fujiang Island, but this arrangement made him quite unhappy.

.

In fact, to be serious, the Haihan side also gave the Fujian Xu Jiajun a lot of opportunities to perform during this operation. The first target of the coalition attack, Fujiang Island, was handed over to the Xu Jiajun. Then they attacked Hirado.

During the operation on the island, the Fujian Navy was responsible for controlling the key waters of Boxiang Bay and Gujiang Bay during the western front operations, and provided cover for the Haihan Special Regiment to implement amphibious landings. The task was not unimportant.

If Xu Yuzhuo followed his own wishes, of course it would be appropriate for the Fujian Navy to be the main attacker of Hirado Port. However, he also went to Hirado Port after the war to see the coastal defense forts built there, and he knew that with the naval fleet's

I am afraid that the firepower will not be able to handle the task of frontal assault.

It's just that the Fujian Navy came all the way to Hirado to participate in the war, but it has never been able to compete with the Hirado Navy at sea. It was almost always playing games. This is also a pity for Xu Yuzhuo. So he stayed in Hirado.

After the war on the island ended, he quickly led his troops back to Fukue Island and spread all his grievances on the local resisters.

According to Xu Yuzhuo's judgment on the direction of the war, the opponent Hirado Clan basically has no possibility of coming back, and the Haihan people have no interest in occupying Hirado, so this war will soon be over, and they will clean up Fukue Island.

Now that it's clean, it's almost time to withdraw our troops and go home.

However, at this time, Haihan asked the Fujian Navy to return to Hirado Island and be responsible for performing security and patrol tasks in the Hirado Strait. The reason was not that the Hirado Navy showed signs of counterattack, but that Haihan wanted to include

Most of the ships, including warships, were freed up to transport the people of Hirado Island to Seogwipo. During this period, the maritime defense of Hirado Island needed to be supplemented, and the Fujian Navy could fill this gap.

Xu Yuzhuo had cooperated with Haihan for many years, and of course he knew how deeply Haihan was obsessed with population and labor. Although it seemed unreasonable to use warships to transport the population at this time, it was unreasonable for Haihan's army to make such an arrangement.

It was normal. He knew that for the Haihan people, these cheap people were probably more attractive than real money and silver, but he didn't expect that Haihan was so impatient and couldn't wait to call civilian ships from the rear to complete the transportation task.

It is planned to directly let the naval fleet do this job.

Although Xu Yuzhuo cursed a lot, he made a very honest decision and chose to follow the deployment of the Haihan Army. Although this arrangement was suspected of being used as a tool, on the bright side, it was regarded as continuing to train overseas.

.And since patrol duties are included, the navy fleet can go to the coastal area of ​​​​Kyushu Island to continue searching for the whereabouts of the Hirado navy, and perhaps have a chance to fight with it.

Moreover, the Haihan Army also made it clear that because this part of the operation was not within the combat plan formulated before the war, it would be responsible for the material consumption of the Fujian Navy during this period. In addition, in order to ensure that the Fujian Navy can carry out its mission during the

If nothing goes wrong, the three majestic-class warships participating in this operation will stay on Hirado Island on standby. This is equivalent to providing the Fujian Navy with a complete insurance policy without any worries.

With these three large Kaihan battleships holding the battleship, even if the Hirado navy dares to make a comeback, it will definitely not be able to get a good deal. Moreover, the Kaihan special battle group will still be stationed on the island. No matter who wants to regain control of Hirado Port,

We must first face this ace force directly.

However, Xu Yuzhuo also believes that it is unlikely that the Hirado clan will launch a counterattack before Kaihan withdraws his troops. After all, the strength of the Kaihan army has been revealed through previous battles. If the Hirado clan does not want to continue sending people to die in vain, it should be rational.

They chose to avoid the attack of the Haihan Army and waited patiently for them to evacuate Hirado Island on their own.

When Xu Yuzhuo led his troops to Hirado Port, he happened to see people on the island being organized to board the ship. The warships used by Haihan actually had a very limited capacity to load personnel, because artillery and various combat supplies were deployed on the lower deck.

, and the cabins where sailors live, these places are inconvenient for the public to enter, so the space that can really be used for additional people is actually only the top deck. The deck of a warship can accommodate a hundred or so people.

It's almost full, so the carrying efficiency is actually not high.

These local people were only allowed to bring a very limited amount of personal belongings on board the ship, so basically everyone was carrying a baggage, supporting the old and the young, walking shoulder to shoulder, queuing up at the pier to wait to board the ship.

After several days of repeated inspections, the hidden piles and thorns among the local people have been basically removed, which also makes the people's resistance to being forcibly evicted not as strong as before. People gathered at the dock

Most of the nearly a thousand "immigrants" had expressions of fear and numbness on their faces, but no one dared to make any further move of resistance.

"About a thousand people will be sent away today, and two infantry companies will also be transferred to Seogwipo to take charge of local public security." Shi Diwen met Xu Yuzhuo at the port and informed him of the current transfer population.

progress.

Xu Yuzhuo nodded knowingly and said: "With so many people transported to Seogwipo, it is estimated that it will be difficult for the local government to effectively monitor them."

Shi Diwen said: "Because the local government could not take care of the prisoners of war transported over the past few days, they could only temporarily place them on the uninhabited island near the port. We have to send some people to assist the local government to avoid trouble in Seogwipo.

What a mess."

Haihan wanted to send thousands of people from Hirado Domain to Seogwipo for transshipment. This actually exceeded the local reception capacity. If Haihan Army did not take necessary measures, there would be chaos in the local area. Although this was in Korea

In fact, the chaos on the territory of the country will not cause direct losses to Haihan, but Haihan has regarded these thousands of people as his own, and he does not hope that something will happen during the transfer process that will lead to the final number being lost.

It was damaged, so a small number of troops were dispatched to Seogwipo to guard it.

However, just the transfer of two infantry companies will not affect Haihan's current deployment on Hirado Island. The headquarters of the special operations group is still here, and it will definitely wait until the clean-up work is completed before joining the navy.

Evacuate.

Xu Yuzhuo was not very interested in the arrangements for the transfer of immigrants. He was more concerned about the scope of activities and operational authority of the Fujian Navy in the future, which was related to whether his fleet could further eliminate the 18th Chiyu Party's control before the end of this operation.

Armed force. If the armed fleet that has been hiding can be destroyed, it will probably be difficult for the opponent to rely on Hirado after the war to reorganize another fleet.

Shi Diwen was also very aware of Xu Yuzhuo's intentions, so after a brief exchange of greetings, he took him to the headquarters and informed him of some of the information currently possessed by the East China Sea Fleet.

"Our military has currently conducted a large-scale investigation of the waters north and east of Hirado. However, because the terrain of the northern coast of Kyushu Island is relatively complex, it is difficult to say that the investigation work has been complete. We still suspect that the enemy fleet is still

They are hiding near the coastline in northern Kyushu, so I personally suggest that you focus on these areas for investigation."

While introducing the situation, Shi Diwen pointed out these areas to Xu Yuzhuo on the map. The most likely hiding place for the disappeared armed fleet is of course the Hirado clan's control area on Kyushu Island, but as Shi Diwen said

As such, the coastline terrain in this area is extremely complex. The Haihan Army did not understand the hydrological conditions in the nearshore area and did not dare to move too close to the coastline.

However, Xu Yuzhuo secretly decided to filter the areas that had not been thoroughly searched by the Haihan Army. Even if he had to take some risks, it was worth it in his opinion.

After the meeting at the headquarters of the East China Sea Fleet, Xu Yuzhuo returned to the camp in the port area and gathered together the senior officers of the Navy to arrange the next combat mission. Now that he had the opportunity to fight again, Xu Yuzhuo did not want to fight again.

If you miss it, be sure to find the enemy's hiding place.

The next day, Hirado Port welcomed the first ship from outside the country after the war. Although there were also ships preparing to enter Hirado Port, after realizing that this place was in a state of war, they would take the initiative to sail.

away from here. Today’s ship seems to have a somewhat different purpose. Even though it was approached by a warship of the Fujian Navy in the Hirado Strait, it still had no intention of leaving. In the end, it sailed slowly under the surveillance and escort of the warship.

Entered Hirado Port.

"People from Nagasaki want to see us? Don't they know there's a war going on here?"

Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen were discussing the time to evacuate Hirado Island, but they suddenly received such news, which made them a little surprised. At this time, those who dared to take the initiative to visit would probably not be ordinary people.

Although they were not quite sure about the identity and purpose of the other party, they still received the visitor at the headquarters later. This man named Tomuki Imai seemed to be a standard Japanese businessman, shrewd and cautious. After meeting Qian Shier,

The queen took the initiative to kneel down, kowtow and salute, and then explained the purpose of her visit.

It turned out that after the Nagasaki authorities learned about the outbreak of war in the Hirado Domain, they had been trying to find out the ins and outs of the war from many parties. However, their purpose was not to prevent the war or to assist the Hirado Domain in resisting foreign invasion, but to

Find out if this opportunity can be exploited to attack the Hirado Domain's trading position.

However, hearsay from the outside world is always unreliable. Various rumors are contradictory and it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity. Therefore, in the end, the Nagasaki authorities decided to send someone to check out the situation in Hirado Port. After all, seeing is believing, and by the way, we can meet face to face.

Let’s learn more about how the Haihan people plan to end this.

However, it may not be inconvenient to send official personnel to come forward, and it can easily turn this kind of contact into a negotiation nature. Therefore, the final candidate Imai Yuki is a businessman engaged in maritime trade. He is reliable and well-informed. The most important thing is that

This person had traveled to the Ming Dynasty many times for trade, so he could speak relatively fluent Chinese and could communicate with the Haihan people who invaded Hirado Island.

"Two adults, the purpose of my coming to Hirado is to understand the grudges between Kaihan and Hirado, and then convey your country's demands to the adults in Nagasaki to see if the dispute can be resolved peacefully.

.”

After listening to the reasons stated by Imai Yuhui, Qian Tiandun and Shi Diwen did not believe it. In fact, when they heard that this person claimed to be here on behalf of the Nagasaki official, they had already thought that the other party was definitely not just for the purpose.

Come to achieve peace.

According to various intelligence information collected so far, Hirado Port and Nagasaki Port are obviously two trading ports in a competitive relationship. Compared with Hirado Port, which started earlier and operates independently, Nagasaki Port is a rising star.

With the Tokugawa shogunate as a big backer, it has more advantages in trade policy. With the shogunate's continuous support in recent years, there has been a faint intention to replace Hirado.

For example, merchants from Western countries such as the Netherlands and Portugal have had to gradually move to Nagasaki in recent years due to the trade rules issued by the shogunate; some high-end handicrafts produced in Edo and Kyoto used to be sold abroad through Hirado Port.

, and in recent years, under the instruction of the shogunate, the foreign trade transaction location has been gradually transferred to Nagasaki.

Although these measures are not drastic, they are indeed stripping away little by little the first-mover advantage gained by Hirado Port through long-term operation. Due to the shogunate's policy preference, coupled with the natural conditions of Nagasaki Port, it is far better than Hirado Port.

In the long run, the trade status of Toto Port will definitely exceed that of Toto Hirado.

However, if other factors can further accelerate the speed of this conversion, then the shogunate will definitely be happy to see it happen. Even if this factor may be an extreme situation such as a foreign enemy invasion, as long as it can weaken Hirado's trade status and the war will not

Spreading to Nagasaki was actually acceptable to the shogunate.

Of course, various rumors about Haihan Kingdom have shown how terrifying this opponent is, so Nagasaki also wants to determine whether Haihan is ready to fight a national war with Japan. Judging from the battle situation in Hirado

, it seems unlikely that Kaihan will further expand the scale of the war, so Tomohiro Imai does not feel that it is dangerous to visit Hirado Port at this time.

Sure enough, Shi Diwen's answer was also very cautious, saying that the feud between Haihan and the Hirado clan would not expand, and that the war was basically over. The Haihan army would withdraw from Hirado in the near future, and would not take the initiative to attack Japan.

launch another offensive in other areas.

"If possible, our country would be happy to establish a long-term friendly relationship with the Tokugawa shogunate, so that the two countries can maintain communication and exchanges in various fields such as economy, trade, culture, and military. In the future, there may be no need to resort to war to resolve differences."

Shi Diwen also used diplomatic rhetoric very skillfully, and did not regard Imai Yuki as just a businessman.

However, Imai Tomuki's trip was just to inquire about information, but he did not have the authority to discuss these issues with Kaihan on behalf of the shogunate. At the moment, he could only say that he would bring these opinions back to Nagasaki.
Chapter completed!